


You Make Me Live

by artificialperidot



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: College AU, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Lesbian AU, its just pure fluff, or kind of lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:28:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25042399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialperidot/pseuds/artificialperidot
Summary: In which Shea and Jujubee buy Brianna a skateboard, and in between falling off of it, she falls for her two best friends.
Relationships: Miz Cracker/Jujubee, Miz Cracker/Shea Coulee/Jujubee, Miz Cracker/Shea Couleé, Shea Couleé/Jujubee
Comments: 9
Kudos: 48





	You Make Me Live

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainbowvelour](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowvelour/gifts).



> Hi y’all!! This is a little something I wrote for the angel that is rainbow (@rainbowvelour on tumblr) who is the biggest cracker stan I know and the queen of this ship. I love you so much rainbow, I hope you like it! The rest of you can find me on tumblr @artificialperidot, feel free to come say hello! Feedback is always welcome, so please leave some!! Without further ado, enjoy!

“Guys, you know I love you both, but are you _trying_ to kill me?”

Shea chuckled. “Happy birthday, bitch.”

Brianna clutched the skateboard tightly in two hands, having discarded the purple wrapping paper onto her bedroom floor. Juju and Shea grinned back at her, anticipating her reaction to their gift, the three of them sitting cross-legged on top of her bed. They had made a makeshift party set up, with a few balloons and some cheap store-bought cake to celebrate Brianna’s 20th, before the three of them would inevitably go out clubbing, probably dragging a few of their other friends with them. It wasn’t much, but it was perfect to Brianna – a nice evening with her two best friends was all she needed to make her birthday feel special (and the alcohol certainly didn’t go unappreciated).

Brianna hadn’t expected gifts, though. After all, they were students – they were all broke.

Her hands traced the edges of the wood, the coloured wheels, the rough surface. There was no doubt that the skateboard was pretty, and it was probably of amazing quality knowing Shea’s expensive taste.

But it was also the dumbest present that Brianna had ever received.

Don’t get her wrong, it was a great present. In reality, it was quite thoughtful of the two of them to have bought her a skateboard. Brianna had always told Shea how cool she thought her skateboard was, how she found it so impressive that she could do so many tricks and how she wished she could look that effortless.

But the issue was, Brianna was certainly not as effortless as Shea. In fact, she was on the opposite end of the spectrum all together.

Brianna was notorious for being about as clumsy as a giraffe on stilts. Though that was the only time she’d ever be compared to a giraffe on stilts, seeing she was at least 5 inches shorter than everyone she knew. She was even shorter than Jujubee, which was really saying something.

Brianna wouldn’t say she was clumsy, though. She would call it ‘vertically challenged’. Or in other words, she found it difficult enough to stay upright on her own two feet on _flat_ ground, never mind on a moving slab of wood with wheels.

To Brianna, a skateboard was essentially a death trap.

Shea and Juju saw the obvious concern painted over Brianna’s face, and tried to offer some reassurance.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!! You said you like my skateboard!!” Shea said, throwing her arms around Brianna’s shoulders in a hug and bouncing on the bed a little.

Brianna smiled half-heartedly. “I love it, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think I’ll be very good at, you know, not falling off.”

“I’ll teach you!” Shea answered enthusiastically.

“Yeah, and if you fall off, we can laugh at you!” Juju added, her tone practically smothered in sarcasm.

Brianna gave her a playful punch to the shoulder. “Shut up,” she laughed. “I don’t know guys… this feels like the type of thing I should’ve learned when I was twelve, you know? Not twenty.”

“Better late than never,” Shea encouraged.

“But what if… what if I hurt myself? Or one of you?”

Juju chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Relax, Brianna. It’s a skateboard, not a bear trap.”

The three of them laughed, Brianna outstretching her arms to pull them into a group hug, the girls falling back onto the mattress. Juju was tucked into Brianna’s side and Shea’s arms were stretched over the both of them, and they lay in a comfortable silence, staring at the ceiling for a moment. “Thanks guys,” Brianna smiled, the three huddling closer. “I’m so lucky to have you two.”

Shea quirked a brow. “Keep that in mind during your first skateboarding lesson, ‘kay?” 

Brianna giggled, swatting at Shea with the back of her hand, feigning anger despite the overwhelming love she was feeling for her underneath.

The skateboard may have not been an ideal gift for Brianna, but her friends were a gift in themselves.

_Whatever this world can give to me_

_It's you you're all I see_

***

Their first skateboarding lesson did not go well, to say the least.

Shea had taken them to a supermarket parking lot, deeming it the only place nearby with enough space to give a proper lesson, as Brianna _definitely_ wasn’t ready to face the horrors of a skatepark. Juju had come too, specifically to watch on the sidelines and take videos of Brianna falling, because _someone_ had to do it.

Brianna was desperately clinging to Shea’s arms as she pushed the board forward unsteadily with one foot, dangerously near tipping over. She was too afraid to put both feet on the board at once, never mind do it without gripping onto Shea.

Plus, it didn’t help that the stony ground was so _wobbly_.

“You’re doing great,” Shea said, though Brianna was sure she was lying through her teeth. “Now, try letting go of me.”

“Shea, I’ll let go of you when pigs fly,” she said, clinging on for dear life when the board nearly toppled over. Jujubee chuckled to herself, watching the ordeal from the sidelines, and Brianna huffed in frustration. “I don’t see _you_ skateboarding!” she challenged.

Juju smirked. “I don’t see _you_ skateboarding either. Right now I just see you wobbling like you’re on a unicycle”

Shea cracked up laughing at that, and Brianna shot Juju a death glare. “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d high kick you in the jaw.”

“I always knew you loved me!” Juju winked. Brianna rolled her eyes, but a smile took over her face. Juju was annoying, but endearing. (And of course, she had a massive crush on her, but Brianna deduced that anyone with eyes would have a crush on Juju.)

“Wait!” Shea interrupted. “I think I have an idea!”

With that, Shea took off without warning, leaving Brianna to flail her arms in an attempt to catch her balance. She somehow managed to stay on the board, frozen still, her arms outstretched like a scarecrow in an attempt to keep herself steady.

Juju laughed. “You look like that guy on all the adverts. You know the one with his arms out on all the buses.”

Brianna raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “Chris Lindhal?”

“Yes! Him.”

Brianna gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes. Perhaps too exaggerated, though, as the movement alone caused her to lose her balance. Brianna stumbles off the board and somehow lands on two feet, Juju’s chorus of laughter ringing out afterwards. Her pride only took a little knock.

Shea returned a couple seconds later, sprinting towards them and pushing a shopping cart across the pavement. Brianna’s jaw fell slack.

“Try using this!” Shea exclaimed, trying to catch her breath. “You can hold onto the handlebar and ride it like a scooter.”

“You’re not serious,” Brianna laughed.

“Just try it!”

“ _Or_ ,” Jujubee interrupted, “You can push me around in it!” 

With that, Juju was clambering into the trolley, somehow managing to kick her legs over the sides and sit in it like a hot tub, a cheeky smile plastered on her face. Shea scanned Brianna’s expression to see how she would react, before shrugging as if to say what the hell. Pulling the cart back from Brianna’s grip, Shea took off at lighting speed, running and spinning Juju all around the parking lot, the two of them laughing hysterically.

Brianna watched on and smiled, wondering why she, of all people, was lucky enough to have the two best friends in the world.

_Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had_

_I've been with you such a long time_

***

Their second lesson didn’t exactly go to plan, either.

It was a really sunny day – way sunnier than usual, and the three of them found themselves in the park, Brianna smothered in sun cream and doing her best to not get distracted by her gorgeous friends who were both dressed in short shorts.

They had intended to practice some skateboarding, but had immediately gotten distracted upon seeing an ice cream van parked by the gate, Brianna forking out some cash to buy all three of them a huge ice cream each. They found a spot in the shade underneath an oak tree and sprawled out on the grass below it, chatting about everything and nothing all at once, and trying to eat their ice cream before it all melted. 

Once they had finished eating, none of them particularly felt like moving, and so their skateboarding plans were abandoned, much to Brianna’s relief. Instead, Shea whipped out her phone and pressed shuffle on her favourite summer Spotify playlist, and Juju quietly sang along, giggling all the while.

Sitting on the grass with those two somehow made Brianna feel completely at ease. She was notorious for being in a constant state of anxiety, but with some sunshine and her two favourite people in the world, somehow everything in the world felt okay. She closed her eyes, feeling streams of sunshine hit her face and sighed. A happy sigh. A sigh of relief.

Suddenly, she felt something stirr by her hand. Her eyes fluttered open to see Shea reaching out her hand to hold hers. Without having to think, Brianna clasped her hand, before reaching out to hold Jujubee’s too, the three of them sitting with their fingers interlocked, enjoying each other’s company.

Brianna wasn't at ease anymore with two hands in hers, though she certainly wasn’t complaining about the way she was feeling. She felt her stomach do a million somersaults, but she was addicted to the feeling. 

She was sure that she would hold their hands forever if she could.

_You're my sunshine and I want you to know_

_That my feelings are true_

_I really love you_

***

Brianna was starting to notice a trend by her third unsuccessful skateboarding lesson.

It had started well, with Shea and Brianna going back to the supermarket parking lot for their training. Jujubee had stayed in their apartment this time, so that she would be less of a distraction, or less of a nuisance to Brianna. Brianna had even managed to put both feet up on the board while it was moving this time, albeit for a couple seconds.

However, within a few minutes of them arriving, it started pouring down with rain, the type of shit you’d see on those extreme weather programs on tv. They both sprinted home, shrieking and throwing their jackets over their heads, neither one of them being sensible enough to read the weather forecast or bring an umbrella.

When they arrived at their apartment door soaking wet, Juju burst into hysterics.

“You didn’t tell me you were going swimming!” she cackled. Shea playfully punched her shoulder, before going to get a towel to dry off her hair. Brianna quickly went to her room to get changed into something a little drier than her drenched sweatshirt and jeans. Whilst she was there, she pulled her duvet off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders like a cloak to warm herself up a little. 

She then headed straight for the kettle to boil some water for a cup of tea, passing Juju in the kitchen as she did so. Juju was bent over the table, carefully tracing a tiny paintbrush over her canvas. Brianna had always adored Juju’s art – she loved to paint people, usually her family or friends, but she was currently working on a portrait of the three of them which she intended to hang up somewhere in their apartment. It was only a few rough outlines right now, but Brianna knew it would turn out beautiful.

“I assume your skateboarding didn’t get very far?” Juju asked as Brianna filled the kettle, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Brianna sighed. “You assume correctly,” she replied. “Why does it have to be so hard?” she whined.

“Maybe it isn’t that skateboarding is hard, it’s that you’re just bad at it,” she said, before giggling mischievously.

If Brianna didn’t love her so much, she would probably have put her in some sort of amateur chokehold right about then. But, she supposed that that was Juju’s way of showing affection, and any attention from her, positive or negative, was good in Brianna’s eyes.

“You’re not exactly a pro skateboarder either, Juju,” Shea said, coming out of her room with a towel wrapped around her head.

Juju grinned. “Yeah, I think I’ll stick to art,” she laughed, before going back to her painting. After a couple seconds though, she paused, before scrambling to find something amongst her art supplies.

“Actually,” she said, “I think I know how I can go skateboarding, too.”

Her hands landed on a bottle of purple paint, and she squeezed a dollop onto her palette, before running across the room, bundling Brianna’s skateboard into her arms as the other two looked on in confusion. She flipped over the board so that the wheels were facing upwards, and set it on the table, before plunging the palm of her hand straight into the paint and placing it onto the underside of the skateboard, leaving a perfect purple print right in the centre.

“There!” she said triumphantly.

Brianna and Shea gathered around the table to admire her handiwork, and Brianna couldn’t help but grin at the handprint that looked so stupid, but felt so right. She threw her arms around Juju in a hug, but quickly realised her mistake when Juju reached out her hand, still covered in purple paint, and smeared it across her face. 

Her face fell in mock anger. “Oh you’re _in_ for it Juju!”

With that, Brianna snatched at the palette, gathering a scoop of thick paint on her fingers. Juju tried to run, but Brianna was not about to let her get away, and after a small struggle, she had a smudge of purple paint on her nose, too.

Then the two of them turned to Shea mischievously. If they were having a paint fight, then Shea was going down with them.

They stood in a face-off for a few seconds, Shea’s face panic-stricken. “If y’all come near me with that damn paint…” she warned, backing away slowly.

Brianna turned to Juju, and without wasting another moment, the two of them pounced, circling Shea around the kitchen table before chasing her into Brianna’s bedroom, the three of them rolling around on the bed until Shea’s face had been satisfactorily splattered with purple paint. The girls were in heaps of laughter, barely able to catch their breath, and looking like they had all had an unfortunate incident with a purple squid.

After a few minutes of laughing like hyenas, Shea broke the silence.

“Hey, look out the window!”

Brianna sat up and peered through the curtains to see a massive rainbow decorating the sky, a near-perfect arch of colour.

“It’s so pretty,” Juju mused.

“And gay.” Shea said with a smile.

“Like me,” Brianna added jokingly.

Jujubee scoffed. “Like _us_ ,” she corrected.

“Like us.”

_In rain or shine_

_You've stood by me girl_

_I'm happy at home_

***

The final time Brianna had tried to skateboard had been disastrous to say the least.

Shea had taken them to a skatepark for the very first time, complete with a huge outdoor halfpipe. Thankfully it was mostly empty, so Brianna wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of some group of teen boys, who still scared her despite her being a fully grown adult. This time though, Shea had taken her own skateboard, and was busy showing Brianna how it was done.

Shea zoomed up the sides of the halfpipe, skilfully doing little tricks and jumps that Brianna didn’t even know were possible on her way back down. Brianna and Jujubee watched on from the sidelines, Brianna wondering how on earth she made it look so easy. Skating was so effortless for Shea, and it made Brianna admire her even more, if that were even possible.

She tried to push her romantic feelings for her to the back of her head, though. She didn’t deny that they were there - I mean, who wouldn’t have romantic feelings for Shea Coulée - but the thought made her feel a little guilty, because she was fully aware of her love for Jujubee, too. Their relationship was complicated, and the three of them were definitely closer than most friends, but Brianna wasn’t sure what they were, or what they could ever be. All she knew was that she wanted to spend time with them every second of every day, probably for the rest of her life.

She wasn’t sure why her brain decided now would be the perfect time to hyperfixate on that fact, though.

Trying to shake the thought out of her brain, she drew her focus back to the task at hand; skateboarding. Taking a deep breath, she placed one foot on the board, and pushed off the ground, tipping over the edge of the halfpipe –

– and she almost immediately tumbled to the ground.

At least she was wearing a helmet.

She wasn’t sure why she had thought it was a good idea. She _knew_ she wasn’t ready to skateboard on a halfpipe – she could barely skate on flat ground, for fuck’s sake. She supposed she wasn’t really thinking, or rather, she was thinking too much , but not about what she _should’ve_ been focusing on.

Within seconds Shea and Juju were leaning over her, checking to see if she was alright. She sat up a little and rubbed her chin, which had taken the brunt of her fall, but assured the girls that she was fine, attempting to get up and brush herself off.

Shea put an arm out to stop her. “No, you stay there. I’m gonna carry you.”

Before Brianna could protest, Shea bent over and helped Brianna to climb onto her piggyback style, Jujubee claiming to be too delicate and fragile to help in the heavy lifting department. Instead, she opened the car door and helped Shea bundle Brianna into the back seat, before driving them swiftly back to their apartment.

When they arrived home, Shea lay Brianna down on the sofa, sending Juju off to find their first aid kit.

“Seriously, I’m okay,” Brianna insisted.

Shea frowned. “Are you sure? Because it looked like you landed pretty hard.”

“Well, my chin is a little painful, but it’s not that serious,” she answered, just as Juju returned with a little red box of first aid equipment. “Nothing that we need the first aid kit for anyways. I think it’s probably just gonna be a bruise.”

“You mean I searched for this thing for nothing?” Juju joked, flinging the first aid kit to the ground in a mock-tantrum. Shea rolled her eyes, but her smile was wide.

“Well, looks like I’ll just have to kiss it better then.”

Brianna’s heart leaped out of her chest.

Before she a chance to process what she just said, Shea’s lips were gently pressed onto her chin. They were gone all too quickly, but Brianna still felt as though she was having a heart attack. 

“There,” she said sweetly.

_Fuck._

Brianna wasn’t sure if it was the pure adrenaline of what had just happened or some sort of concussion that made her do what she did next, but in hindsight she was grateful that she did.

“I think you missed a spot,” she said, before crashing her lips onto Shea’s.

She felt herself melt into the kiss, and Shea deepened it, bringing her hands up to cup Brianna’s face. It felt like fireworks were being set off inside her belly, and balloons inflating in her lungs, and a love song being written on her lips. 

It was a taste of magic.

When she pulled away, she felt Juju’s eyes burning into the back of her head.

“Oh, you’re not leaving me out of this.”

With that, Juju strode over to the sofa and engulfed Brianna in another kiss, taking her completely by surprise. It was more frantic than Shea’s had been, with more power behind it, and Brianna was captivated, utterly and completely.

When they pulled away from each other, Shea immediately turned to Juju and placed a peck on her lips. Brianna sat in shocked silence staring at the two of them, her heartbeat racing like a formula one car.

She had never been so overwhelmed in her life.

After a few seconds of silence, Shea joined Brianna on the sofa, Juju flopping down beside her. No one was really quite sure what to say.

Instead, Brianna threw her arms around them and they hugged one another, just because it felt right.

There were far too many emotions to address right now. They could talk about them one day. But for now, they were happy in each other’s company, just as they always were. The three of them. Together. None of them really knew what they were. It was complicated. But Brianna knew that things had changed between them, and she hoped that it was for the better.

No. She _knew_ it was for the better.

_You make me live_

_You're my best friends._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always appreciated <3


End file.
